Jar_VFA-113

Hi Titafan, very sorry to hear you’re having issues. Mine semis to be working normally.

Hi Hijack, great question! In game fleet speed seems to be restricted to max 27 knots and to be honest it’s just been set to 30 for years just to make sure we get maximum wind over the deck. Corrrect me if I’m wrong but the number you see on a real PLAT CAM crosshair below the CLEAR/FOUL icon is WOD (wind over the deck) in knots. For most real US Navy PLAT CAM videos I’ve seen this number ranges from 26-31. If you can show me something that says maximum WOD for recovery is 25 knots I’d be very interested. Not concerned about launch speed as we need the correct WOD for traps. We don’t use wind in the mission as it causes pitching deck and reduces the fairness of the grading boxes. It also throws the less confident guys out during the final turn.

Hi Teriander, we are a solo squadron (not part of a group/air wing) but we do fly with other squadrons as you can see from our friends at VFA-34 shooting traps with us. We’re not on Discord. Thank you, yes it’s public and free from our website or the link in the DCS mods forum.

Great video guys! The synchronised cat shots look epic.

Sone of our guys use OVGME and report it works. I set the folder structure up for that correctly I think.

Hi Scotty am close to finishing a comprehensive LSO training film that should hopefully cover all the info needed to use the mod and mission. To LSO your own traps you’d need to either: - record tracks then watch them back from LSO. - have a second PC host the mission, set it to PLAT cam and Fraps/shadowplay record. This is how the VFA-113 PLAT movies are recorded. - for practice you could assign a joystick button to LSO view so you can snap to the platform and back. You probably need to pause to check yourself but I use this while flying to take a quick peek at other guys approaching as well in MP. Video soon :)

Yes if you grab the Stennis you can drag the fleet. Only need to re-positions the surrounding ships if you change the heading. I put some clear plastic on the monitor and mark where the ships are to make a template then turn it to the new heading and match the units up. The Trigger zones are all attached to the ships so it doesn’t matter where you leave those.

^^ great advice. It depends on abeam distance, aircraft weight, your airspeed, bank angle and on and on. It’s a true art form and extremely rewarding when you nail a good start.

Hi Nealius, please feel free to drop by our teamspeak if you’d like some help. This mission is verified by a current US Navy F/A-18 pilot. “Paddles Contact” in this mission means you should be turning NOW. Don’t delay, it doesn’t make it easier. You should roll wings level on final approach just before you hear “3/4 mile...”. If you are correctly onspeed your time in the groove will be 15-18 seconds as per NATOPS. If you are spending 20 seconds plus on final approach this is considered Long In the Groove and a hazard to the rest of the flight behind you. I aim to cross the ships wake just at the point where it’s disappearing (roughly 1nm). I’m looking for 300 feet just as I’m rolling wings level lined up with the centerline as I know this will be roughly a good meatball. Our new video shows the time on approach in the mission plus an epic “pull to the right” which is definetly pilot error :D: 9K8VMcSaAoY

That’s very kind of you Tony. We have a new surprise this week. Will make sure you get an early preview ;)

New VFA-113 mod to release later this week, sneak preview in this video ;) 9K8VMcSaAoY

Yes Borba sounds good we should catch up soon.

https://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=211616 It could be a simulation of the wind over the deck ^^^. Nice Tony I’ll have a look, how’d you get it working?

Oh hey Rvator thanks but I was more looking for someone who knows how to just port the whole mission over. I can do it piece by piece also ;) but it’s forty planes and a lot of triggers. I tried editing the mission lua to change to ‘Persian gulf’ and it looked like it worked but everything was unflyable. It’s probably not possible.

I problem Verde, you should be starting your turn by ‘paddles contact’, lots of new guys used to delay after hearing it but it’s a reminder that you should be starting your turn now. Hey so I have made small attempts to transfer this mission into the Persian gulf region and failed. If anyone wants to give it a crack and succeeds in getting my LSO mission fully working in Persian gulf I will reward you with the Huey module or module of your choice as a gift! Please post here so the timeline works and we know who achieved it.

Thanks guys. 1. We all own the Huey so putting the overlays there was no issue for us. Obviously you are all free to do what you like with it now :) We also encourage people to further support Belsimtek and buy the Huey. It’s a blast and we use it for missions regularly. 2. The LSO mission is verified by a US Navy F/A-18 pilot. Of course people are free to make the mission easier for themselves (it took us years to get up to speed) but just for the record the two values mentioned are important because: - if you are on approach longer than 20 seconds, the aircraft behind you that is aiming for the correct 15-18 seconds will cut you off in the pattern. Our pilot friend stresses ‘long in the groove’ and I’ve seen many arguments online when guys doing 30 second finals are cut off by guys doing it right :D. You should be crossing the ships wake before it fades and rolling wings level close to the “3/4 mile call the ball” as you see in the videos. The guy that went downwind too far is in the wrong and it’s hard to tell that on the PLAT cam as LSO. The other deviation could be that the second guy didn’t leave enough break interval or was fast downwind. This Trigger detects ‘long in the groove’. It’s all about maintaining world peace on the greenie board. - the ‘paddles contact’ altitude is not a big deal but you should be 600 feet when you reach it. VFA-113 flies port holding at 2,000 feet and sometimes needs to enter the spin at 1,200 feet. We don’t want that trigger going off unless we are in the downwind which is why the alititude restriction.

If you don’t have the Huey module you won’t be able to load the Huey manual which is where the crosshairs are located. You will be able to use the Carrier mission and views however. Also I’ve seen a couple folk accidentally using the VR view on a monitor. By default the PLAT cam mod is set to VR mode. In VR you use the first overlay and: 1. Close one eye 2. Line up the 1 WIRE ref line with the 1 wire. 3. Line up the crosshair vertical line with the centerline. 4. Use the VR zoom to get a closer view. 5. I always hit VR re-center just to make sure. If you are using a monitor you should load up the Non-VR monitor PLAT cam view included in the pack. This places the view further forward and closer to the flight deck.

Overwhelmed by the kind words everyone thank you, the real beauty in all of this is the magnificent Hornet and Stennis ED gave us though. Zionid if you were long in the groove the LSO expects you to fly the missed approach pattern on the briefing screen. Climb to 600 feet, maintain onspeed and turn downwind when in front of the ship. You will get the ‘paddles contact’ call again when abeam the LSO Platform on the downwind. You must be within the correct abeam range which is roughly set to 1.2-1.5nm. I always tune my TACAN to 74X and it shows the distance to CVN74 on the HUD. Groove length is important because if you go long then the aircraft behind you who is flying the pattern correctly will cut you off on final. This used to be a regular occurance before we implemented the Air Boss LIG pattern wave off. 15-18 seconds is normal, 20-plus seconds is too long in the groove.

No the mission is purely to let you know when the aircraft is at the start and in close for grading. It’s also just good fun when you’re flying traps to hear the LSO talk to you. The overlay should be workable in any mission that has a Huey you can occupy. Previously I created a MANUAL for our Hornet mod but I was aiming to have as small a mod footprint as possible and was avoiding messing with any Hornet code. Hopefully it also encourages some folk to get the Huey! Support Belsimtek it’s a great module!

Thank you everyone! :D Tony try zooming back and hitting the padlock key (NUMPAD DELETE) as the aircraft comes into view.

Thanks Morkva, yes it’s a great new challenge but the Hornet mod you made for us flew proudly for many years. When we had a final ‘goodbye’ mission in your Hornet mod it was a very sad day. Thank you sir, you kept us flying US Navy ops while we waited for this day.

Thank you guys, really hope you get as much enjoyment out of it as we do. The new Hornet and Carrier are insanely good!

Here it is guys! Finally the first VFA-113 Stingers PLAT video with the new DCS F/A-18C Hornet! RFliAq31JbM

DELETE PLEASE MODS